Website test: Why is cross-browser compatibility testing vital?

What if your website just shows well on Google Chrome and it isn’t compatible with other browsers like Firefox, Safari, …? Well, it might drive away quite a lot of your traffic. That’s the reason why the cross-browser compatibility testing does matter here. Check out this article “Website test: How important is cross-browser compatibility testing?” to learn more about the benefits of this type of web testing.

Cross-browser compatibility testing is also an important part of website tests which should be carefully performed before launching a website and even after it goes live. It seems like a quite big mistake if someone ignores this kind of website test while creating and running a brand-new website or web app. Keep reading on this article and then you will know more about the importance of cross-browser compatibility testing for your website’s user experience.

Cross-browser testing ensures proper operation of the web on different web browsers

>>> Click here: Basic things to know about website test

What is cross-browser compatibility testing?

Before exploring how important cross-browser compatibility testing is, we should spend a few minutes learning about the term “cross-browser compatibility” and what cross-browser compatibility testing is first. In that way, we will be able to deeply understand the importance and necessity of this type of website test.

Explanation about Cross-browser compatibility

Back in the old days, Internet Explorer (IE) was the only web browser that we used to view web pages. But everything has changed. Nowadays, we can access the internet and view web pages via various options of browsers.

There are more than 100 browsers available out there, and people can view sites in their preferred web browsers, in which Google Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari are among the most common ones at this point of time.

Besides, there are also many other web browser options such as Opera, UC Browser, and more. As each browser has its very own way of rendering websites, a site does not behave the same way in different web browsers.

Website site: A good site must come with cross-browser compatibility

It’s not uncommon to see a web page behave and display so well in one browser but still has issues and bugs in others. Well, if that’s the case, this site is not cross-browser compatible.

But if a web page can be accessed by and fully functions on different web browsers and operating systems, then it’s considered cross-browser compatible.

Obviously, a good site must come with cross-browser compatibility. It needs to well work on the majority of browsers or even all browsers (including their mobile versions as well) with consistent layout and features.

What cross-browser compatibility testing is?

Cross-browser compatibility testing or also referred to as cross-browser testing is a type of non-functional testing, letting you check whether your websites work as intended when they are accessed by different browsers. 

Like its name suggests, cross-browser testing involves testing the web sites or web applications across different web browsers, operating systems, and screen solutions and checking their compatibility to ensure consistent behavior and functionality for end-users. This kind of website test allows you to provide your viewers and visitors the same experience when they access your web page anywhere, anytime using any browsers.

Of course, it’s always the responsibility of web developers and web testers to make sure that not only the web works, but it works well for all users, no matter what web browsers, operating systems, devices they use to access the web. 

It’s important to perform website test in different browsers 

Website test: Why is cross-browser compatibility testing vital?

These days, cross-browser compatibility is a vital requirement when it comes to web development, especially from the user experience point of view. We can’t force our users to access and view our website using a particular browser just because we have not put in enough effort to ensure its cross-browser compatibility.

If a website can’t function properly or even continuously crashes on particular browsers or browser versions, then, of course, user experience suffers significantly. For instance, older versions of IE are notorious for browser compatibility problems. Still, web developers need to account for all versions of IE as well as many other browsers available out there.

Cross-browser compatibility is a vital requirement

Without cross-browser compatibility, the site will receive little or even no traffic from the browsers that it’s not compatible with.  As a result, your traffic, SEO and ranking factors will be affected negatively a lot. That also leaves your visitors with negative impressions about your website. That's the reason why we need cross-browser compatibility testing.

Cross-browser testing, as a part of the website test, will help you know if your web page’s appearance in different browsers is the same or different or if one is better than the others, and so on. Besides, it also helps ensure the functionality and the working of the site is okay when it’s accessed through different web browsers.

If there are any issues or bugs related to browser compatibility, this kind of website test will allow us to identify and fix them, so that you can improve efficiency and user experience of the web.

What features are analyzed in cross-browser testing?

If your website works well on one browser, that does not necessarily mean that it will also work well on the other browsers. Thus, this kind of website test helps you to make sure that your website runs on various browsers without any issues.

If a website can’t function properly, user experience suffers significantly 

Here are the main features that are checked in cross-browser testing:

• Base functionality: Testing basic functionality such as links, dialogs boxes, menus, form fields, and more to ensure they work correctly on most browser-OS combinations.

• Graphic User Interface: This helps make sure the web’s appearance with elements like fonts, images, and layout, etc looks good in different browsers.

• Response: Examine how well the web responds to user actions.

Conclusion

Recently, we already learned basic things about cross-browser compatibility testing, including explanations about cross-browser compatibility, its importance as well as what makes this kind of website test vital. In the end, we hope that this writing provided you with useful information and new things!

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Cre:

softwaretestinghelp.com/how-is-cross-browser-testing-performed/

testim.io/blog/what-is-cross-browser-testing/

browserstack.com/cross-browser-testing